Landfill: costlier tipping fees and less space

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO, NY — While a good deal remains unsettled, last week’s Sullivan County legislative discussions about the landfill revealed that tipping rates will increase from $55 to $75 per ton for household garbage and that a new $125 per ton rate will be enacted for construction and demolition debris.

It also became evident that the landfill, permitted by the state to accept up to 200,000 tons annually will limit its intake to 112, 000 tons and eliminate out-of-county waste disposal contracts.

The deluge of numbers, engineering and legal jargon continued June 3 as legislators continued a solid waste management education program.

Legislators considered increased tipping charges to offset the loss of about $3.5 million in revenues from waste import contracts. “Did this $75 figure just come out of the air?” asked legislator Jonathan Rouis.

County Manager Dan Briggs said Sullivan had to balance retaining space against losing business. The number was said to be competitive with other area landfills, but Briggs admitted, “We don’t know the market breaking point. We’re going to lose some business to other areas.”

“Are we breaking even at $55?” Chair Chris Cunningham asked.

The answer appeared to be “no” as the Division of Public Works (DPW) reported that based on 2003 expenditures, each ton of solid waste cost the county $86.

Solid Waste director John Kehlenbeck noted that $86 includes the operation of county transfer stations and trucking.

Finance Commissioner Richard LaCondre said the county’s debt service does not work the same way as DPW’s cost analysis. The legislature thus far has funded $11 million toward a reserve fund for closure and monitoring of the landfill. To fully fund the reserve, LaCondre said another $2.7 million would be required. If reserve money is budgeted, it would create an $810 deficit in landfill operations, even with higher tipping fees, LaCondre said.

“If we don’t fund it, someone else does,” Rouis responded.

LaCondre said there are other options to finance the closure and that he had always anticipated that the project would be bonded. Beyond that, good returns on the investment of existing reserve fund money could also cover the entire cost, as only some $8 million is required to create a final landfill cap. Monitoring costs would be spread out over a period of decades following the closure.

Legislators last week also touched on the proposed, 35-acre, phase-two landfill expansion. The project is now estimated to cost about $35 million to build, but most costs would be at either end, as the concept is to weld new liners to existing cell liners and create a “valley fill” that utilize both new and old cell spaces in overfilling the original landfill. The overfill would add another 100 feet to the landfill’s elevation.

Cunningham directed that a resolution to increase landfill-tipping costs be drawn up for discussion at the committee’s June 10 meeting.